The Government of Newfoundland and Labrador began the Art Bank Collection in 1984 to provide economic benefit to artists and to promote the cultural heritage of the province. Today, the Art Bank Collection is managed by The Rooms and encompasses close to 3000 works of art by over 250 Newfoundland and Labrador artists. The Government of Newfoundland Labrador provides funding to The Rooms to acquire new artworks every year. Artworks that are part of this collection may be exhibited at The Rooms, and are also installed in government offices and public buildings across the province.

Applications for acquisition are reviewed once per year by an independent, external jury selected by the Art Bank Advisory Committee. Artworks are recommended to The Minister of Tourism, Culture, Industry and Innovation for purchase by the Province. Artworks are ranked based on quality, not on the professional experience of the artist.

Note that the acquisition process may take 4-5 months, as there are a number of steps within the review and approval of acquisitions.

Eligibility

Open to professional and non-professional artists, who have been residing in Newfoundland and Labrador for least 12 continuous months prior to the application deadline.

Artwork by members of the jury or Advisory Committee or their immediate family is ineligible while the individual is a member of either committee.

Artwork must be owned by the artist. Artwork owned by a collector or other third party is ineligible.

Artwork must be available for acquisition at the time of submission. Proposals for future work are ineligible.

Artwork must be unframed.

Artwork must be produced with permanent, archival-quality materials (ex: artworks are ineligible if produced on MDF board, with non-permanent pigments, are dry-mounted, etc.)

Submission Checklist

Download and complete the Provincial Art Bank Submission Form.

Current CV, including up-to-date exhibition and collection record (Max. 3 pages)

250-word artist statement, explaining your current creative focus.

Artists may submit up to 3 artworks to be considered for acquisition each year, however, only one work may be purchased from a single artist within a given year.

Images of artworks must be formatted as follows, burned to CD or DVD marked with the artist’s full name:

When documenting artwork, consider composition, photograph against a neutral background (ex: white matboard), try to ensure that colour is as accurate as possible, eliminate or reduce glare from frame glass as much as possible (note that work must be unframed for purchase), turn off the camera flash, use natural or diffuse light.

For each 2-D work (prints, drawings, paintings, etc.) – please submit only 2 images: one image of the entire work (edges must be visible, no cropping) and one image that is a detail (a close-up, enlarged area of a section of the artwork to show surface detail)

For each 3-D work (relief, sculpture, etc.) – please submit only 3 images: including at least one image showing one full side of the work. Other images may show different angles, and/or details of texture, etc.

Images must be saved as a PC-compatible .jpeg file format (300 DPI at 5”x7” or 1500 x 2100 pixels). Do not compress files (WinZip, Stuffit, etc.). Do not submit a hyperlink or internet address. Do not submit MAC files. Do not submit a presentation file, such as PowerPoint. Do not submit files that require additional software, plug-ins, extensions or other executables that need to be downloaded or installed in order for them to open.

Image files must be labeled and saved to disk as follows:

Artist’s Last Name_Title of artwork (ex: Doe_oceanwaves.jpg)

For images of details, number the files sequentially (ex: Doe_oceanwaves01.jpeg and Doe_oceanwaves02.jpeg)

Do not use any special characters, punctuation, symbols or quotation marks (ex: #/-&…) within the file name

IMPORTANT NOTICE: If support material does not follow the guidelines listed above, your application will be considered incomplete and will not be considered for purchase. Please do not submit more support material than is required.